Without a dream
by NH9297ei
Summary: Shanks never came to Foosha village to inspire Luffy to become King of Pirates. On top of that Luffy had to handle the bandits alone and bears the pain of losing someone much earlier in life. He'll find his way, just not the one he was destined to take. LuffyxNami?
1. Chapter 1

[Intro Here]

"Hey Shanks, where do you want to stop for supplies, we've needed a pit stop since re-entering East Blue" asked Benn Beckman to his Captain, albeit the term was used loosely on this certain ship.

"Oh Beckman" replied Shanks while vigorously chopping down on the piece of meat in his hand, "Well I was planning on stopping in Foosha Village, it's rather close plus I hear the townspeople are quite kind to pirates" he grinned.

"We may have a problem then Captain"

"Such as?" Shanks attention was now entirely on Beckman.

"There have been reports of a group of bandits raiding and slaughtering a town just thirty miles East of Foosha, supposedly the group has been at it for over a week and the marines have yet to do anything, as of recent the bandits have the town under martial law" Beckman looked grim.

"I see, well I suppose we have no choice then" Shanks looked deathly serious, and the slightest wave of Haki expanded from him.

"Tell the crew the change course East and furrow the Sails all the way, let's make haste".

"Roger, Captain".

"Ahhhh" wailed a woman. She was screaming uncontrollably and looked as if she had seen a ghost. In front of her stood three men, one dressed in long black pants and a light blue shirt, one with white torn up shorts on and a black v neck, and finally, standing in the middle was the tallest of the trio. He was tall, roughly seven feet, he wore long white sweats along with an unbuttoned "Hawaiian" shirt, his body and face were lidden with scars along with an emotionless face, fully apathic to the situation he had just caused.

The gun the middle man was carrying had just been fired.

In front of him stood a body, no more than ten, who looked deathly still.

Red stained the dirt in below the body, and the redder it got the more the woman screamed.

"Shut up" one of the men spoke, with a grin on his face, seemingly amused by the whole situation.

"The boy tried to stand up to us, with the regime we are trying to erect here we cannot have any insolence, especially from someone so young." The emotionless man explained, cooled and calm.

"HE was my SON" the woman screeched as moved closer to the body trying to feel if there was any warmth left. As she attempted at putting a hand on the boy the man shot at her, piercing right through her palm.

In unimaginable pain, but determined, the woman kept moving.

"Last warning or this time it's going through your forehead" the utter monotony of the man's tone revealed just how little he cared.

She didn't either.

She continued moving and the man, seeing this, drew his pistol back up and got ready to fire.

"Bang" the shot was loud, and with it came the sound of three people falling over. The woman, realizing she was still alive, looked up from her dead son. In front of her stood all three of the man that had terrorized her, only all three of the lay on the ground, each with a hole right through their chests. Behind them stood a man with red hair and a straw hat. Next to him were two men, Ben Beckman and Lucky Roo, both of which had pistols in their hands, looking freshly fired.

"Who are you" the woman asked. Her voice was apprehensive and despite what she had been through her eyes still had some fight in them. They could easily just be here to overthrow the bandits and then take control as they had done. She had lost her son but she still had two more kids to look after. This time she would fight.

"The name is Shanks and these two are Benn Beckman and Lucky Roo, we are of the Red Hair Pirates!" he made a slight grin and then turned serious again.

"We are here to take care of the bandits" he continued.

The woman's eyes widened at this statement as tears started to come down from her eyes. Maybe she would get out of this, at least, with two of her children. Then she realized something that made her grow grim again.

"T Th Then you'll need more than you three, there's roughly thirty more of them, you'll never be able to take them all down" she spoke warningly.

Lucky Roo started chucklingly while Shanks threw her a reassuring smile.

"Not to worry ma'am, I came here knowing what activities these bandits were up to, I've sent the rest of my crew all over the town with the intention of getting rid of them as soon as possible, in the case of preventing them from hurting anyone else."

His voice grew grim as he got ready for his next words

"with that said"

He motioned down to the dead boy in front of her "I am deeply sorry I did not get here in time to save him" he sounded genuinely upset.

With the apology, the woman's face grew pained, but now was not the time to cry, she could do that later. "It's okay" she said, she closed her eyes and calmed herself.

"The time for mourning is later, if you are truly here to take down the bandits then we may have a slim shot, I'll notify the villagers to prepa.." she was cut off.

"All done" shouted a man walking towards the four, he had a satisfied look on his face.

"That took you awhile, Yasopp" teased Shanks.

"Yea, yea to be fair some of them were hiding in some rather weird places after I knocked the head off the first one…." He was being dead serious.

"That's rather violent for this crew Yasopp, we don't want to terrify all of East Blue now" Shanks tried to admonish with a frown. Beckman smirked and Lucky Roo grinned.

The woman had a look of absolute shock on her face, had this group of average looking pirates really taken down all the men that had completely terrorized her village in just five minutes since showing up,? 'God Dammit' she thought 'They sure have shitty timing'. That said, they had still saved her and the village and she was in their debt.

"Um Pirates?" She hesitantly asked. They all turned to her. "I believe this town is in debt to you, is there anything we can do to repay you?". All four of the pirates grinned, with the same idea on their minds.

"Let's PARTY"

After defeating the bandits, the woman quickly informed the town of what had transpired, they soon were more than grateful to the pirates, and as they had requested, threw a huge party.

"Ahahahah" laughed a rather drunk Shanks. "The Sake here is great, I could drink it like water" he grinned and quickly took to chugging another jug down.

"Captain" Beckman called up to his captain.

"AH Beckman" Shanks grinned "How…. can" Burp "How…how can I help ahahhahhh" He was quite drunk.

Beckman sighed at the antics of his captain.

"I was just wondering captain, what are the current plans as far as our course, do you still wish to go to Foosha village?

"Ahhhhhh, ummmmmm, well no" Shanks was thinking rather hard with the amount of alcohol currently flowing through him.

"I think we should stay here for a while and help these villagers recover from this" He almost sounded sober.

"After that we won't have enough time to travel to Foosha and we'll just have to continue forward" having made up his mind Shanks went right back to drinking.

"Roger, Captain" and with that the conversation was over.

 _A small event in any story can always lead to a wave of effects, what will happen to a certain boy now that no one is there to ignite the dream of becoming a pirate._

In Foosha village a young Luffy lay unconscious as a bandit named Higumi stole all the sake from Makino's bar. He woke up and once he was told what happened he was devastated. Afterwards Makino tried to comfort him and say that it wasn't his fault but he wouldn't budge. He ran out of the store in tears to be alone.

"Luffy!" Makino cried out but he didn't turn around, he couldn't face her.

'I'm so weak' he thought to himself. He had tried to stand up to the Bandit but he had just smacked him over the head straight into a table, knocking him out cold. By the time, he woke up he had found out that he had punched Makino too for standing up to him along with taking all her Sake as compensation.

'I'll never let someone hurt her again' he swore to himself.

He kept running faster and faster, he wanted to try to outrun the shame he was feeling, he wanted to feel the pain in his legs over the guilt in his heart.

He was trying to so hard to focus simply on running fast that he failed to notice the small obstacle right in front on him. His foot caught on it smashing it open but he tripped anyway.

"Owieeeeee" Luffy whined as small tears threatened to come out, he was five after all. Opening his eyes, he noticed what he had tripped on. It was a smashed-up fruit. Blue with small spirals all over it. It reminded him of a giant pineapple. It looked kind of tasty minus the mashed-up part.

'Growl' his stomach "hummed" in approval. Luffy, not being one to hesitate took a big bite, only to immediately regret it as the taste of extremely salty pickles marinated in dirty sock juice filled his mouth. He refused to spit it up however, never being one to waste food, and painfully swallowed.

"CuuuuuuChaaaaaa that was gross ew ew ew" whined Luffy. Following the taste was a weird sensation in his stomach, he felt, lighter. 'Whatever' he thought nothing of it. Being done crying, Luffy decided to head back to the village when a growl could be heard from the bushes. Unbeknownst to Luffy, he had accidently run into a small clearing in the forests surrounding Foosha, and consequently right into the territory of an unknown beast.

"Who's there!" yelled Luffy, trying to act brave despite the immense fear already bottling up inside his small frame. Slowly crawling out of the bushes was a rather large Tiger with a look of hunger in its eyes. Luffy tried crawling back but that only seemed to anger the Tiger as it started to charge at Luffy.

'This can't be it'

"Crahhhhh" the beast growled

'I have to see Makino and Gramps again'

Its mouth opened, showing all the fangs in its mouth ready to rip him apart

'If I die here I can't protect Makino'

The beast was right in front of him and lifted his palm up at Luffy, aiming to end him with one hit.

'I can't allow this' at that moment all Luffy could think about was making the large cat disappear.

'Go away' 'Go away' GO AWAY' as Luffy thought his last wish the beasts paw landed right on him, but the second it did the cat shot right back in the opposite direction at an unimaginable speed, smacking right into a nearby tree, breaking the tree in half and dying on impact.

A second later Luffy opened his eyes having no idea where the tiger went or what the loud crashing sound was. He looked around and widened his eyes in shock when he saw the broken tree with the lifeless body of the tiger next to it. The only thing he could think to ask was

"Did I just do that…?"

End of Chapter One.


	2. Chapter 2: Helpless

Chapter 2: The helpless?

"Did I just do that" Luffy thought as he got up from where he had cowering. He looked down at himself, not a scratch. Surprised and still a little scared he looked back over at the tiger.

'Yep, he's really dead' he thought to himself as he approached what was quickly looking less like a tiger and more like a giant ball of whatever simply with tiger skin.

'Why does he look like that' Luffy poked at the body, it felt jiggly, almost without form.

Every bone in the tiger's body had been shattered completely, of course this was not something a five year, much less being that that five-year-old was Luffy, would have guessed. As Luffy was about to examine the now deformed mouth Luffy remembered Makino.

'Crap, I need to go find her and tell her what just happened' he thought. With that he was off and a trail of smoke comically followed behind.

Makino was worried. Luffy had just run off without telling her where he would be heading to. She knew why he left but it didn't change the fact that he was five. Ever since Garp had dropped him off here she had all but taken up the role as his big sister. She didn't know what she would do if he ever got hurt.

Makino was picking up the last of tables that had fallen from her previous encounter with the mountain bandits when she heard very fast but very tiny feet coming from outside the bar.

"MAKINO!" screamed a grinning Luffy. He had made it back, boy did he have a story to tell her.

"Luffy" her face lit up when she his grin, he was all right, but just how was a little boy like that running so fast?

"You'll never guess what happened Makino, I got attacked by a giant cat!" Luffy's grin only got bigger.

With that the smile that was on Makino's face quickly found itself making a giant O with Makings eyes all but popping right out of her head.

"WHATTTTTTTT?" She screamed at the little boy before grabbing him and quickly engulfing him in a hug.

"Are you okay, where did you find it, how did you get back and…YOU'VE ONLY BEEN GONE FOR THIRTY-FIVE MINUTES HOW THE HECK DID YOU EVER GET ATTACKED AND MANAGE TO ESCAPE A GIANT CAT?" she had tried keeping her voice calm but quickly grew increasingly loud as the realizations started to hit her.

"Shishishishi I'm fine Makino, not a scratch on me, when I was running I tripped on a fruit that tasted like rotten onions mixed in with sea water and next thing I know there's a giant stripped cat growling out me, and I got back by running…. duh" He made it sound so obvious. A tic mark quickly formed on Makino's head. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself before asking a slightly different worded question.

"No luffy, I mean, how did you manage to escape the tiger?" She had a frown.

"Oh, well I can't quite say, all I know is that it was going to smack at me with its paw, I closed my eyes and got ready for the impact but next thing I know the cat is really far away from me on the ground with a broken tree right behind it, I walked up to the tiger but he wasn't moving at all, I even tried poking him" His face was scrunched up as he tried to remember.

"DON'T TRY TO WAKE UP GIANT CATS YOU IDIOT" Makino yelled, honestly the nerve of him, however his story was odd, just how did the Tiger get thrown over to the tree, so much to knock him out. That's when she remembered that he said he had tried some random fruit he had tripped on. A tick mark formed again.

"AND DON'T EAT RANDOM FRUITS YOU TRIP ON EITHER!" That was it, no more yelling today, she promised herself.

"I promise I'll never again, it tasted awful like I said" Luffy was making a disgusted faced, tongue all the way out.

"Okay, I'm just so glad you're okay" she smiled again and Luffy smiled back at her. 'Still' she thought, she was rather curious on just what happened, and she couldn't put herself to trust what the five-year-old in her arms was telling her verbatim. She decided it would be a good idea to see the site herself.

"Luffy do you know how to get back to the place?" she asked.

"Yea" he grinned back

"Can you take me there right now?"

"For sure! Let's GOOOOOOO" Luffy grabbed onto Makino's hand and was all but dragging her to the spot where he had escaped death.

Once Luffy and Makino arrived on scene Makino yelped out in Shock. Luffy hadn't been kidding, it was all there. She walked up to the tiger and gaged, it looked like a giant ball of mush. Its face had no structure to it and what should have been its torso and legs just looked like layers of blankets stacked on top of each other. She glanced over at the tree and her surprise didn't end. From about five feet up the entire tree had been knocked over, the tree looked very young and strong too, adding to that fact it's diameter must have easily been 8 feet. She looked to her left and right, all the other trees were fine, this was the only tree affected. She glanced back down at the blob of tiger when her eyes widened in realization.

'The tiger must have hit the tree so hard as to knock it over' the idea of such of things made her almost laugh, just what kind of monster could do such a thing in East Blue? She gulped.

As she scanned around she even saw what looked to be a smashed a blue pineapple on the ground. She looked a little closer and as she saw the small patterns on the fruit her eyes widened in shock. She looked at Luffy very nervously.

"Luf Luf Luffy is that the fruit you took a bite from?" She asked hesitantly.

"Oh that, yea, but like I said it tasted terrible, I definitely wouldn't eat it again" Luffy hadn't noticed just how scared Makino looked.

"Luffy, I think I know how the big cat ended up by the tree" Luffy's eyes widened, excitingly waiting for an explanation by Makino.

"HOW, HOW, HOW…?" he repeated excitedly

Makino sighed, wondering how he would take this.

"You" she said.

"WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTT"

After Makino had informed Luffy that it had been him that most likely killed the tiger he had braded her with questions on how. For Luffy, the mere prospect that he possessed that kind of strength gave him hope for being able to protect Makino.

"Pleaseeeeeeee Please Please tell meeeeeeee" Luffy begged. Makino looked over with a sweat drop 'He definitely acts his age' she thought.

"It's the fruit you ate" she said simply.

Luffy looked up at her with the straightest face she had ever seen on him.

"No way you idiot" he said calmly.

"DON'T CALL ME IDIOT YOU IDIOT" She yelled back, that promise she made earlier had proved too hard with someone with Luffy…she sighed, she was serious this time.

"I'm serious Luffy, I think what you ate was a Devil Fruit, they're said to give people special powers if they are eaten, however, I can't believe you found one here in Foosha Village.

"So, that fruit gave me the power to push the giant cat, AWESOMEE!" He had stars in his eyes. It was all Makino could do but to not smile, he was such an easy-going kid even after being almost eaten by a tiger. The mere thought brought fear to Makino's heart.

"So, what power do you think I have Makino?" He was grinning eye to eye.

"Hmmmmm oh that? Well I can't say, but it seems like whatever it is it had the power to shoot that tiger so fast as to knock the tree over". She was trying to think of just what kind of power could do that.

"Well come to think of it, I remember saying to myself that I wanted him to go away, I couldn't think of anything else besides the fact that I wanted this monster to go away from me, I didn't want to not see you"  
The words Luffy had said brought warmth to Makino and she couldn't help herself but to pick the boy up and give him a piggy back ride.

"Hey Luffy, let's get you home and I'll prepare you some nice ribs, eh? She smiled warmly at him. The boy deserved some food if all he had had was that fruit, she had heard of just how bad it tasted.

"MEAT" was all the boy thought needed to be said.

With that they were off to the village.

Luffy was happily chomping down on the delicious pile of ribs in front of him with Makino smiling down at him. Despite just how much of a hectic day it had been, they were both okay and that was all that mattered.

However, one person was going to change that.

"I'm back woman, we finished the sake and now it's time for some food as well" Higuma said as he slapped the door open, with what looked to be ten people behind him. Luffy and Makino gasped at the sudden entrance. Makino quickly developed a look of horror on her face while Luffy just narrowed his eyes at Higuma, this time Luffy had strength, he had a devil fruit! He could stand up to these assholes.

"Hey Hey we don't need any trouble Sir, what can I make you guys" replied a nervous Makino.

Higuma grinned, he liked it when people listened to reason.

"Well boys, get whatever you want, this food is all free!" with that the men behind Higuma slowly sat down, all clearly drunk and all looking rather threatening, each equipped with guns and knives around their belts. Luffy wasn't having any of it.

"Hey, who do you think you are bossing her around, I'll kick your ass this time" proclaimed Luffy. All it brought however, was laughs from the bandits and a gasp from Makino.

"Oh really, what makes you so sure of yourself table sleeper" the jibe at the end enraged Luffy.

"Because this time I have a power and I'm going to kick your ass with it". With that Luffy ran up to Higuma and tried to make him get pushed away just as he had with the Tiger. He put his hands right in front of Higuma and tried to think of pushing him away.

Nothing happened.

Luffy, after realizing it hadn't worked, looked up to Higuma with a horrified look on his face. Higuma was grinning.

"So, that's the best you got huh, I got to say, you're even weaker than you look ahahahahahah" with that the rests of the bandits erupted into laughter. Makino looked absolutely horrified, just what were they going to do to Luffy, and why hadn't his ability worked?

"Don't hurt him please! I'll give you whatever you want, please understand that's he's only a child" she tried to reason with them.

"A child huh, he sure acts like he's an adult for someone so small" he said while looking down at Luffy.

"No, if he's going to act like an adult then I'm going to punish him like an adult". He grinned

"Please don't hurt him!" she cried

"DO YOU'RE WORST TO ME I'M NOT AFRAID" Luffy yelled while trying to act brave, though inside a feeling of dread was slowly building up…

"To you? Oh, no little man, in the real world when someone screws up it's usually their loved ones that get hurt" Luffy and Makino eyes widened at that. Before they could react however Higuma pulled a pistol out and pointed it at Makino's face. Luffy had just enough time to look at her before…

"This is what happens when you act foolishly to those stronger then you, for going beyond your year's boy" with that Higuma pulled the trigger.

Time slowed down for Luffy. Everyone looked frozen in place to him.

'What's happening he wondering before he noticed the small dot coming out of Hijiki's pistol.

'That must be the bullet' he realized in shock 'But just how am I seeing it move?'

He could see the small sonic boom form right in front of bullet. The sounds waves coming off the bullet as it slowly traveled through the air.

He could see it slowly moving towards its target, a seemingly motionless Makino. He panicked. He tried to move forward but realized that his body was just as slow as everyone else's, it was just his eyes and mind that was keeping up. An unimaginable dread flew over Luffy. His worst nightmare had come true. He was helpless to help his loved ones…and with an irony delivered to him by then what could be none other than a devil, the power that he had acquired, allowed him to perfectly see that danger Makino was in, without the power from earlier to stop it.

The bullet kept moving along. Almost deathly slow. It was over half way across, slowly creeping towards Makino. It would only take another 20 seconds but it felt like eternity.

'Is this what hell is like' Luffy deathly wondered. He felt like that a failure.

It had reached Makino, almost like throwing a stone into water it smoothly entered her forehead. Her face hadn't changed. Luffy was seeing the last moments she would be alive and it was driving him crazy.

'Noo….' It kept creeping through her skull.

'Why is this happening' Another five seconds had passed.

'Why am I so worthless' it popped out the other side.

Just like that time seemed to go back to normal and Makino fell to the floor lifeless, with the same expression on her face as the one Luffy had been watching for a minute. The same scared face.

'Not scared for herself' he knew 'scared for me' he wasn't comprehending what was happening at this point.

"She's dead"

"Yea kid, this is what happens"

"She's dead"

"Ahuh, these are the consequences of trifling with powers above you"

"She's dead"

"Oi boy, what aren't you getting"

"She's dead"

"All right shut up you're getting annoying"

"Sh sh she's dead, she's dead and YOU KILLED HER" Tears had already started free-falling down Luffy's face. The person he considered kin was gone, and he had watched the entire thing. Not only that but if he had been able to use his powers from early it wouldn't have happened.

'I can save myself but not her' the thought devastated him

'But if it hadn't been for that man' he looked up at Higuma 'none of this would have ever happened in the first place'

Higuma looked slightly uncomfortable, he had never seen such a scary face on a five-year-old before, he had eyes of pure hatred pointed at him. It didn't matter though, he was only five.

"Hey kid, have you learned your lesson"

"Yes" replied an emotionless Luffy

Higuma grinned, so there was hope for him after all "And what lesson is that"

Luffy paused for a moment, he looked behind him. Makino was so still, if anything more still now then she had been when he was watching the bullet. The woman that had fed him, yelled at him, slept with him, laughed with him, loved him was gone and there was nothing he could do about it. He turned back to Higuma.

"Well?" Higuma asked again, only this time with a hint of impatience in his voice.

"I learned that…that that, I can't be trusted to protect anyone" his eyes looked lifeless

"Eh that's it, that's not what I wanted to here we all already know that" this time Higuma was just annoyed, 'this kid is hopeless' he thought.

"And…" Luffy started

"And" Higuma was curious, maybe he'd been wrong!

"And that people like you DON'T DESERVE TO EXIST!" Higuma eyes widened but he had no time to react. Luffy had ran over to an unoccupied chair and placed his hand on it, he didn't know what he was doing but it just felt…right, he felt like he was relearning something he had forgotten a long time ago.

"Ahhhhhh!" yelled Luffy as all he could think about was throwing the chair at Higuma as fast as possible.

He didn't have to throw it.

Much faster than the bullet that had taken Makino's life, the chair touched by Luffy's hand accelerated to undetectable speeds, but to Luffy it looked like it was slowly moving through the hair. Clear as day to Luffy the chair smashed into Higuma, with such a speed that it went right through him, breaking in the process but at the same time forming a giant hole in Higuma's torso. He had been cut in half from the lower abdomen to his upper chest and was dead before the two parts of him hit the floor.

To Luffy it had been incredibly slow but to the Bandits one second the small boy in front of them had placed his hand on the chair and next thing they knew their leader was no more. They were enraged.

"Oi boy, you're going to regret that". All the bandits pulled out their guns and shot at Luffy together.

'Times slowing down again' Luffy thought.

The men were frozen in place as all the bullets that were coming towards slowly exited their respective pistols.

'No' he thought.

'I'm just perceiving everything incredibly fast, aren't I?' How a five-year-old Luffy ever figured that out was a question akin to whether the chicken or egg came first.

'Just what power did that nasty fruit give me?' At this point, however, Luffy didn't care, he just wanted to kill these people. A desire that was so foreign to the boy that he was slightly scared.

'I still can't move my body though' he started to get worried.

'Just what can I do? Ahhhh think think think?'. He came up with only one idea, to try to redirect the bullets back to the bandits. He tried to turn them around but they wouldn't budge, just what had he done differently with the tiger and chair…his eyes slowly started to widen.

'That's it!' he thought. He waited patiently for the bullets to come into first contact with his skin.

'Go back' he commanded, and with that the bullets went in the opposite direction with a speed much faster than that which they had come towards Luffy, even faster than the chair that had killed Higuma.

Time for Luffy went back to normal and all the bandits fell to the ground, each one had been shot point blank through the eyes with their respective bullets. Everyone was dead besides Luffy. He had won.

Luffy turned back to Makino on the floor and ran to her. Her body had already started to cool he noticed, and no matter how much he pushed her she really wasn't moving at all. Her face was the same, that same face he had been able to watch while the bullet that would end her slowly made its way. His eyes became watery again.

Luffy had never cried so much in his life.

Chapter 2 end.


	3. Chapter 3: A New Dream

Chapter 3: A new goal

It was late when Luffy and the others buried her.

The others in the town hadn't known about the incident until after it was too late. It wasn't the screams. It wasn't the numerous gunshots. It was the wails of Luffy over the lifeless Makino that finally got someone to notice what had happened.

One of the villagers had informed the town mayor, Woop Slap, who immediately ran over to Makino's bar, only to look upon in horror at her motionless body, the blasted remains of Haguma and the corpses of his bandits, and finally, the broken form of Luffy. It was all too much for Woop Slap, he broke down as well.

The town had spent roughly thirty minutes digging a hole for Makino in the town cemetery, one hour for lasts words and farewells, and another fifteen putting the dirt back over her. By the time, they were done the sun had long since vanished below the horizon. But most of the villagers preferred it that way, so that no one could see the tears coming down their eyes. The quiet sobbing coming from Luffy could be heard by all, however, and it broke their hearts. One by one the villagers quietly walked back to their respective homes, ready to get some sleep in the hopes that they would feel a little bit better in the morning. Finally, only the Mayor and Luffy remained.

"Luffy" Wood Slap called out quietly, he was worried for the boy.

The only response he got was silence. Undeterred, he tried again.

"Luffy, you can't stay here all night, why don't you come with me?" This time Slap's voice carried a bit more force. Luffy couldn't stand out here all night, he wouldn't allow it.

Luffy turned his face stained with tears to the mayor, and plopped himself done on the ground. Sighing a bit to himself, Wood Slap took a couple of steps forward and gently placed a hand on Luffys shoulders, looking him in the eyes.

"Luffy, I know how much this is hurting you, but you can't sta…"

"Its my fault she died" Luffy cut him off. The mayor's eyes widened.

"Luffy don't say such things! You're so young" 'How could he think there was any way for him to stop those guys'?

"I saw her die" Luffy voiced sounded pained and helpless, it broke the mayor's heart.

"I know you did Luffy, but that doesn't mean you could have stopped the bullet, it was over in an instant"

"Was it?". The Mayor widened his eyes.

"What do you mean Luffy, of course it was I saw the bullet wound m…."He cut himself off as he realized what he was saying. Luffy looked pained but continued.

"I saw it slowly old man, I saw the bullet go slowly across the room, I saw as it entered her, and I couldn't do a damn thing!" Tears had started coming down faster as Luffy finished his sentence.

"Bu bu But how Luffy, surely you know there is no way you can do such a thing, no one can see a bullet, it simply goes too fast." The mayor was getting worried for Luffy's mental state.

"Who do you think killed the bandits" is all Luffy replied as he walked over to a tree near the freshly dug grave.

The mayor's eyes widened. The townspeople had been so wrapped up in Makino and Luffy that they had forgotten to figure out just who had defeated the bandits in the first place. Adding to that, while most of the bandits seemed to have just died from bullet wounds, the leader was found in two pieces. 'Just what would have done that to him, the wound was too sloppy to have been from a blade'. He gulped and looked over to Luffy, who was waiting by the tree.

'What is he doing' the Mayor thought but thought better of saying anything. Luffy placed his hand on the tree and turned back to the Mayor.

"Right before Makino died I had run off to the forest, there I encountered a weird looking fruit, I think Makino called them Devil Fruits, anyways, I took a bite" The Mayors eyes had turned into saucers at this statement. 'There's no way he can be serious, a devil fruit in east blue, that's unheard…."

Luffy simply thought 'Go away' to the tree and in an instant, it was flying away from the two of them at scary speeds, even its roots had been ripped up, all the tree had been affected by Luffy's command, nothing left to spare. Three seconds later it landed in the sea over 500 meters away, causing a large splash as it crashed into the Ocean. The mayor's mouth was touching the ground at this point. Luffy turned back to him with the most serious expression the Mayor had ever seen on the boy.

"If I had been smarter and not opened my mouth but had waited for the right time I could have stopped the bandits with no trouble and Makino wouldn't be under that dirt right now" Luffy was biting his lip so hard it started to bleed.

"Old man, I never want to let this happen again, I don't want to let bad people get away with bad things" Luffy looked the mayor straight in the eyes.

"I never want to let someone I care about get hurt AGAIN" Luffy shouted the last part with so much conviction for a five-year-old the mayor was shocked, he could have sworn it had felt like Luffy was challenging him and almost waiting for him to challenge his resolve. The mayor didn't.

'Oh Luffy, the things you have seen no one should ever have to endure' he started walking towards the boy.

'So, it was you who killed the bandits, for a five-year-old to take someone's life in such a way is….'

'Just how will you grow up; will I ever see that playful grin on you again?'

'When Garp hears about this what will he do?'

'More importantly, what can I possibly do?'

He kneeled done and looked the boy straight in eyes. Luffy stared right back at him without a hint of emotion, at least until the mayor brought him into a hold.

"Luffy, no matter what you think, no matter how mad you are, how ashamed or how regretful, you are still a child, and whether you believe me or not Makino's death was not and never will be your fault."

"But"

"You couldn't have known how your power worked, you were only doing what you did to protect Makino and because… you're Luffy" the Mayor tried to manage a small smile.

"But she's dead…"

"And even in death she wouldn't want you to be beating yourself up, she cared for you so much"

"And I took that love and gave her a bullet"

The Mayor smacked Luffy over the head.

"Owwwww"

"Shut up you fool, do you even hear yourself? I'm practically drowning in your self-pity?"

"Huh?"

"*Sighs*, It's an expression Luffy"

"After today I might as well drown…"

"THERE YOU GO AGAIN"

"Was that an expression?"

"NO!"

Despite himself. The Mayors antics were making Luffy feel a little bit better. 'Maybe he is right, I shouldn't be beating myself up'. 'But if he's right that doesn't change the fact that Makino's dead'. He walked away from the Mayor and back over to Makino's grave.

'Luffy, what are you doing?' The Mayor was watching from his place.

Luffy knelt and grabbed a handful of the loose dirt and crushed it in his hand. His eyes narrowed.

'Makino, I promise you, I will never let bad guys hurt good people again, especially the people I care about'. He looked down at the grave and remained silent for another minute. Then he stood up and walked back to the Mayor.

"Old man, I'm ready to go"

The mayor smiled. "Okay, let's go get some rest, it's been a rough day for both of us".

 _Rough didn't quite describe it._

 **3 days later:**

" _Ring ring ring, ring ring ring, clamp"_

" _This is Vice Admiral Garp, who is calling"_

" _Garp it's Woop Slab"_

" _Oh Mayor!" he grinned "What can I help you with?"_

" _Garp, I don't know how to say this, but, Makino is dead"_

…" _How?"_

" _Bandits"_

" _Is Luffy okay"_

"… _Physically" That was all Garp needed._

" _I'll head right over"_

Garp had arrived at Foosha village just three days after the incident. When Luffy first saw, him he had tackled him into a hug and burst into tears, he was relieved to see his only remaining family. He had asked Luffy what had happened and the more he heard the grimmer he got. However, once he heard about Luffy's devil fruit he thought it would be best to see it as soon as possible.

"So Luffy just what can you do with your devil fruit?"

"Um, well I can move things really when I touch them or they touch me, I can also see things happen really quickly?"

"What kind of things?"

"I can see bullets slowly go across a room whenever one gets fired, it almost feels like things slow down when I see something really fast."

Garp was thinking hard, just what was the connection between all these abilities? It had to be a paramecia fruit, he wasn't turning into an animal or melting into some giant shape of whatever element. However, he had never heard of such an ability before, he wanted to see it with his own eyes.

"Luffy, you said you could move things really fast, can you give me an example?"

Luffy grinned, he was excited to show off his power. He walked over to a small pebble nearby and thought 'Go away', aiming it directly at Garp's forehead, this was payback for all those "fists of love". It did hit Garp, but instead of hurting the man, it simple shattered upon impact upon what appeared to be a small black part of Garp's skin. Garp's eyes widened at just how fast that pebble had traveled to him, nowhere near fast enough to catch him off guard, however, years of hunting down pirates in the New world and fighting the Pirate King himself had hardened his reflexes to a level unreachable by most.

'Still, if Luffy only ate this fruit four days ago, then what he is showing me now is low level control and power, the potential this fruit has…' next up was vision.

"Luffy you said you could see bullets, right?"

"Yea"

With that Garp pulled out a pistol and fired it right past Luffy on the left side, right side, and then right again with such speed that most men wouldn't have noticed anything but the sound.

"Luffy, where did the bullet go?"

"It wasn't a bullet but bullets, the first one went to my left and then you fired two on my right"

Garp was impressed, whatever this devil fruit was it seemed to let the user perceive things of high speed. 'Wait…speed, that's the connection, speed'. There was just one last thing to try.

Reflecting.

"Alright Luffy so you're able to accelerate things and to see things of high speed, but you also told me you could reflect bullets, right?" This one was going to be fun.

"Oh yea, but they had to touch me first, if I don't touch the thing I can't make it do anything"

'Interesting, so it has to be in contact with him, I wonder if that applies to his own body then?' Garp would have to get Luffy to try that later, the prospect of super speed already had him grinning. 'But for now, let's try this reflection ability of his…with my fist'

Garp lunged at Luffy with speeds faster than a bullet and a fist cocked back ready to smack him over the head, he shot forward and… Luffy shot back in the opposite direction, crashing into the ground.

"WHAT THE HELL GRAMPS THAT HURT" Garp comically had his jaw down and eyes popping out as he didn't expect Luffy to not stop it. 'Maybe I just went too fast for him right now? Still, the second my fist met him I felt myself being pushing in the opposite direction, maybe it's more reflexes on Luffy's parts at this point, hehe, I'll just have to train him past that'.

"Oi oi sorry Luffy, I guess I went to fast for a weakling like you bahahahahahahahhaha" Luffy narrowed his eyes.

Luffy was mad, and a mad Luffy was determined.

"Try that again and this time I'll WIN!" he yelled with narrowed eyes. 'Okay so he's punching me even faster than a bullet, I'll just have to focus harder this time'. He took a deep breath and got ready.

Garp was grinning, he was so proud of his grandson, no one else would be so determined to get smacked by his fist again.

"Ok Luffy, here I go" Luffy was staring intently at his grandfather following every movement.

As his Grandpa launched off the ground towards him the same thing happened again. Time slowed down for Luffy. Things around him seemed even stiller than when he had watched the bullets. 'Still though, my grandpa is coming at me a lot faster than the bullets did, just how fast can he go?' No matter, he could still react in time.

Garp was cocking back his fist again, he had already made it half way towards Luffy.

It was fully back at this point and now Luffy could see the fist gaining a large amount of speed as Garp quickly made his way over.

'Any second now and it'll hit me, I wonder just how fast that fist is really going…?' He couldn't help but feel nervous, the fist was easily going 5 times faster than the bullets he saw, and his senses were even better than last time!

'Focus, just think of making it go as far away as possible' Luffy thought.

It was right in front of his face, it was getting so close.

Closer.

Almost there.

It touched.

'GO AWAY!' was all Luffy could think, the same thing he had thought when the tiger had attacked him and when he had pushed the chair into Higuma. His entire being focused on the sole idea of Garp's fist moving away. It worked.

Garp was surprised. While coming towards Luffy he had seen the different facial expressions on the boy in such a short time. It seemed like his face got more focused the closer his fist came. The second his fist touched Luffy however, he found his entire body going in the opposite direction, with a good speed too. He traveled in the air for a couple of feet and then land down, quickly shooting Luffy a grin, he was quite impressed, most trained marines wouldn't have had a chance at dodging that.

"Ahahahahaha, that was quite impressive Luffy! Whatever fruit you ate is quite powerful" 'I'm quite surprised we don't have any records of it, just where did it come from?'

Luffy was grinning from ear to ear. Despite himself, he quite liked compliments from his Gramps, he didn't get them very often.

"Shishishishi so what now Gramps?" He had shown his him all the powers he had discovered.

"Oh now? Well I can't just leave you here in Foosha village with such a power in your hands, you'll be traveling with me for a while until I think you have your ability down"

"REALLY! We're going on adventures!" At this point, there were stars in his eyes.

"All kinds by boy! By the end of this trip you'll be whipped up in no time, I was going to tell you about this to later but things have changed, I'm going to train you to become a Marine!"

"WHAAAAAAAAA" The thought of riding around on ships stopping bad guys was too much for him. He fainted.

"Oiiii Luffy? What Happened!?"

 _With that the stage was set, a guide in his power, Luffy was ready to go down a different path, however, what will happen when he discovers that not all Marines have the same intentions?_

End of Chapter 3.


	4. Chapter 4: A Hero is Born

Chapter 4: A hero is born!

Tenki had been a busy town. Resting on a large harbor in East Blue, they had a plentiful economy. The oceanic currents brought in a wide variety of fish, and it had become a nest for merchants stopping by for rest, and more importantly, for trade.

Unfortunately, this large collection of merchants meant a large collection of treasures, and we're there's treasure, there's pirates.

The morning had started as any other, a large collection of stops with volumes of people coming in and out. All sorts of items could be found here: guns, golds, spices, swords, enchanted jewelry, and occasionally, a devil fruit. Today there had just so happened to have been a devil fruit, similar in size to kiwi yet with the skin of a durian. It was accompanied with it a pale blue color, and those notorious spirals that gave away its identity to any knowledgeable merchant.

It had occurred in a small shop right in the middle of the city, as the Navy had been informed. It was a day like any other, at least until the fruit was brought out onto display, the merchant hadn't known it at the time but the person he had been dealing with was a notorious pirate throughout East Blue who had been searching for a devil fruit before he departed for the Grand Line.

"Anything else you might have of interest today?" Hitoshi asked, the merchant before him had given him plenty of treasures in the past and had a history of withholding his best finds for last. With a slow but growing grin the merchant reached into his bag and brought out with him a small item wrapped in cloth.

"This here is quite the find, the rarest thing I have ever come across"

"Oh really? rarer than any of the other items you've brought to Tenki, if I remember you sold a cursed sword awhile back". Hitoshi was interested, this man was not known overselling.

"Yes! much rarer some say the devil himself created these, I didn't think I'd ever find one in East Blue, but it was right there! Just laying on the ground right on the beach, what are the chances hahahaha!"

At this point Hitoshi's eye were wide and a grinned rested on his face, he was _very_ interested.

"Well what it is, surely it can't be what I think you're referring too"

"Oh, but it is! the infamous devil fruit!" And with that the merchant pulled the cloth off the fruit, revealing the pale fruit. Histoshis eye narrowed and his hands started to lower to his belt.

"Now as far as pricin…." "BANG" The merchant was quickly interrupted from negotiating a price by a bullet placed right between his eyes. Everyone else in the shop got ready to fight as disagreements between traders were common, but before anyone else could intervene Hitoshi had already taken a bite out of the fruit and immediately they all knew that something was very, very wrong.

Hitoshi's skin turned shiny, his entire body slowly covered itself in steel and what were his hands slowly turned into large blades. Other pirates tried shooting at his body, but the bullets simply deflected off. Before long, his entire body was covered, and his old voice was replaced with a new deeper hollow one.

"This, this power, have a gained the power to turn my body into metal?" Hitoshi gleamed at his new abilities. And with pure hatred glanced at the frightened onlookers in the shop.

"Devil fruits are unheard of in East Blue, if word got out to the Navy, people would come after me immediately, surely all of you can understand why you must die today". The others in the shop started screaming, and before anyone could call for help a brigade of small bullets expanded from Hitoshi's body onto everyone, killing them instantly. Hitoshi returned to his flesh form and slowly stepped out of the store, checking one last time for witnesses, and seeing none, left quickly for his ship, he needed to regroup with his crew and prepare for the departure. Whoever, what he hadn't counted on was an outsider seeing the incident as he was passing by:

"Hello, this is the Base 103E how may assist you?"

"Hhhhello I need assistance immediately, someone turned into metal and killed everyone in a shop"

"Okay Sir I…"

"and I don't know what he's doing now but he just walked out"

"Okay Sir…"

"Now he's walking to his ship I don't know if he's coming back oh no what's going to ha"

"Sir"

"Oh no I have so much to live for this isn't fair what is going to happen"

"Sir"

"And I have a pie in the oven am I ever going to finish cooking that?"

"SIR WHERE ARE YOU"

"Oh, ah Tenki"

"We're sending assistance now" and with that the naval officer signaled for the highest-ranking officer within 20 miles of Tenki.

"Oh, Sir there's a call for you from 103E, seems to be an incident at Tenki"

"Oh, BAHAHA well it looks like they'll be something for you to do after all, Luffy"

"It's about time! I was dying of boredom!" the small boy got up from his seat at the front of the ship. Today had been particularly quiet and he had a history of getting weird when there was nothing to do.

The marine who had informed Garp of the situation questioned the decision, "Sir do you think it wise to just send Luffy, it sounds like it could be a devil fruit!"

Garp widened his eyes and popped a grin, "Oi Luffy, do you think you'll be able to handle it?"

Luffy blinked once and simply asked "Which direction is Tenki"

"Oh ah…" A moment later one of the marines pointed slighty left from the front of the boat.

"That way about 17 miles we can head there n…"

The marine didn't get a chance to finish as Luffy quickly accelerated himself in the air towards the Island, he had been holding his energy in all day and couldn't wait to have some fun.

"BAHAHAHA that's my grandson!" Garp wasn't worried, compared to the training he had been putting Luffy through, there was nothing in East Blue that could come close.

Back on Tenki Hitoshi was calmly walking back to his boat, there was no one on this island who could stop him nor knew what had transpired, he would get out of here in no time.

That was until he saw a small dot in the sky seemingly getting larger.

"What is that…" His eyes grew larger as he noticed it was coming right his way.

He didn't have any longer to react as before he knew it the dot smashed right into him knocking him 30 feet in the opposite direction.

The "dot" that hit him quickly stood up and looked around the area he landed for any signs of violence… he was here to fight!

He didn't have to look long however as Hitoshi quickly got back up, angrier than ever.

"Oi, who the fuck do you think you are, do you have any idea what you've done, you're fucked!" Hitoshi started forming metal over his body and this time transformed his arms into maces, he was going to tear apart whoever decided to hold him up.

Instead of terror however, he simply started laughing.

"Shishishishi, Me? I'm Luffy" and with that, he shot forward, faster than Hitoshi had time to react.

Update: I'm Back 😊


End file.
